Working Mothers : This is for YOU

A few days ago, I had written a post on this blog Working Mothers – The “Real” Issues. The post got a lot of readership (Thanks to all those who read it) and also many people wrote back, and asked if there were any suggestions on how to deal with some / many of these.

Looking back at my own life – Ever since I became a mother myself, I have a new found respect and admiration for all working mothers.
No matter what you do
No matter where you live
No matter what else you do
If you’re a working mother
Hats off to you

Simply because every working mother had to deal with several “mini-projects” as I call it on a daily basis
Project 1 : Kids (A to Z)
Project 2 : Work / Career
Project 3 : Food and Cooking
Project 4 : Husband (Yes! A full time project )
Project 5 : Friends
Project 6 : Home Maintenance
Project 7 : Family
Project 8 : Self
Project 9 : Miscellaneous / Others
Just listing it down exhausted me! Then imagine how exhausting it would be to manage every single one of them, every single day!

Well, thankfully along the way I figured a few Mantras to make it easy for myself. In this post I am sharing my mantras with the hope that it may resonate or help you

Mantra 1 : Re-define Perfection
One of the most important milestone in my journey as a working mother was when I let-go of “PERFECTION”, rather I re-defined it. Yes, I accepted that everything and everyone will NOT be “perfect” all the time (even in my own eyes). And that’s OK! It’s OK if you don’t look your best always, It’s OK if you don’t have the cleanest house always, It’s OK if your cupboards are not the best organized always, It’s OK if you don’t get the BEST MOM Award everyday, It’s OK to say “No” at work – when the situation warrants, It’s just OK……. That single moment was the “Nirvana” moment

Mantra 2 : Let Go of Control
There is a strong co-relation between women and their need to control OR feel in control of things. Up to a point, it is good! Beyond that, it is ?.
As a working mother, it is important to acknowledge and accept that you will NOT be in control of everything all the time. Just re-calibrating your own expectations of what in in your control, and what is out of your control helps tremendously.
Next, finding realistic and practical ways to deal with situations which are beyond your control helps tremendously in finding balance between professional commitments and personal priorities

Mantra 3 : You are not a SUPERWOMAN ; Accept limitations
Yes! You are not born a SUPERWOMAN. You have your set of limitations, constraints and realities to live with. You have only 24 hours in a day, and only 2 eyes, 1 nose, 2 ears, 2 hands & 2 legs – like everyone else! You have your share of highs and lows, ups and downs, emotions, trials and tribulations.
Most importantly,
(1) You cannot possibly make everyone happy all the time
(2) You may not be able to live up to everyone’s expectations all the time
(3) You may put yourself before others – sometimes or many times
All the (3) above are perfectly OK.

Mantra 4 : Ask “Will this REALLY matter 10 years from now?”
One of the most powerful question I ask myself when I have a tough time deciding things is “Will this REALLY matter 10 years from now?”. More often than not, I see the situation in a totally different perspective, and find satisfactory answers to whatever situation I am facing. Try it the next time you are up against a brick wall, and you will experience the difference.

Now I’d love to hear your Mantras. Leave a comment to let me know

Are you crystal clear about the ROLE(s) that you play?

Over the recent past, one of the points which was repeated umpteen times during my conversations with several people was around ROLE CLARITY. All these discussions made me pause and reflect on why ROLE CLARITY is so important in today’s day and age…

Fundamentally What does ROLE CLARITY really mean?
Firstly, what are the very many roles you play in life as a part of your professional and personal life? For e.g.: most of us play the role of a child, spouse, parent, teacher, student, friend, professional, citizen, etc.
Secondly, what are you accountable for as a part of these roles and who are you answerable to? For e.g.: As a blogger, one is answerable to themselves and to the readers. It is the blogger’s responsibility to ensure that quality content is published (w.r.t original content, well thought out, interesting content,supported by relevant data & facts, and literally accurate with respect to grammar, spelling, punctuation,etc.) on a regular basis on your blogs
Thirdly, are the people / environment around you in-sync with your understanding of your role ,i.e, Is there a general consensus and agreement on this with people who matter in your life?

Let me illustrate my point with a few examples.
A very succesful business woman I know who is also the mother of a teenage girl said this during our conversation “If I look back at my life, one of the reasons for my success at work and life in general was phenomenal clarity on my roles and responsibilities from the very beginning – especially at home. To be very specific – It was my responsibility to put food on the table. Whether I cooked or got someone to do the cooking or ordered food from outside, I was accountable for it! There was a very clear and explicit understanding between me and my husband around this. And though I initially resisted taking this up, I later realized that it was actually good simply because I knew what I had to do at home on a daily basis. And hence, I used to objectively plan to ensure that food was laid on the table on time. To be honest, life was a lot easy for all of us. Not only did it give me an opportunity to ensure that healthy food was served, but it also helped me in planning my activities and enlisting the required help to ensure this is addressed on a daily basis.
Role clarity is especially important for women. And more so for working mothers. One of the reasons for a lot of stress in the lives of women is due to this. Most working mothers somewhere don’t know what is their PRIMARY ROLE at home and hence tend to ignore key domestic responsibilities or take undue stress in life“

The second example I quote is from a personal mentor and guide whom I deeply respect. He said to me during a conversation “One of the reasons why many of us have problems is that we don’t have clarity on our roles – either at work or at home. And this state can put immense pressure on you simply because it is hard to deliver anything in life if you don’t know what is expected of you. And role clarity for yourself is just one part of the story. Your immediate environment and ecosystem including the people who matter the most should also be aligned with your point of view – Else you are on the path to …..”

The reason I emphasize this and even wrote up a post is because as I reflected on my own life and spoke to people around me, I observed the following visible charactertics
1) Lack of clarity on the roles that one plays
2) Lack of clarity on the relative priority of the roles that one plays
3) Lack of clarity on the key responsibility and accountability associated with each of the roles
4) Lack of general consensus from the environment / ecosystem around our roles is fairly common

So pause and reflect.
Are you clear about the many ROLES that you PLAY?
Are you clear about the responsibilities associated with these many ROLES?
Are you clear about the relative priority of the responsibilities?

What’s you view on this subject? Leave a comment to let me know

What is the Services Business really about?

All my life I have been a consumer of services – from education services, to phone services, to training services, to IT services, to hospitality services, to tourism services, to luxury services, to healthcare services, to beauty care services, to cleaning services, to security services, to home maintenance services, to postal services, to courier services, to financial services, to transportation services, to dining services, to lifestyle services, to automobile services, to customized personalized services, to plumbing services, to information services, to research services…etc. etc. etc.

And as a part of my professional life, I have also been a provider of many types of services – IT services, consulting services, training services, advisory services, maintenance services, support services, technology services, marketing services, writing services, blogging services, etc. etc. etc.

Having seen and experienced both worlds, I many times wonder about the following questions:
• What is the Services BUSINESS really about?
• What are you paying for when you consume a service?
• What do others pay for when they consume a service you provide?

As I step back to unravel the answers to these questions, I discovered understood and amassed the following key takeaways:
1) The SERVICES BUSINESS is about selling TIME
In any service transaction, there are typically two key entities. The service provider or the one who provides the service and the service consumer or the one who consumes the service. In most instances the service consumer typically pays for the service, though not always. For e.g: If you visit to a spa for a treatment on beauty care.. Though you are the consumer, it is possible that you’re family / friend / spouse / children pay for the services you consume and enjoy!

So what is that you pay for when you consume a service?
Fundamentally when you pay for a service, you are paying for someone else’s time.

Let us take a few examples to explain better:
Example (a): Take the of research services.
When you pay for a research paper, what exactly are you paying for? If you pause and reflect, you are really paying for the data, insights, methodology, analysis and conclusion that went in to create the research paper.
So who really created the research paper? The researcher
And what did the researcher really put in to create the research paper? His / her time

Example (b): Take the case of IT related services.
When you pay a company for IT related services, what exactly are you paying for? If you pause and reflect, you are really paying for the IT systems or solutions that are being developed, supported and maintained?
So who really does these IT related activities? The employees of the IT Company
And what do the employees really put in? Their time

Example (c): Take the case of consulting services. For e.g.: Financial advisory services, Legal services, Medical services
When you pay for any of these services, what exactly are you paying for? If you pause and reflect, you are really paying for the advice and knowledge being shared with you for your specific question / problem?
So who really provides these services? A financial advisor / A lawyer / A medical practitioner
And what do they really put in? Their time

2) The price of a Service is based on the PERCEIVED VALUE in the eyes of the Service Consumer
The most interesting discovery was the fact that the price you pay for any service you consume is dependent entirely on the PERCIEVED VALUE of the service in the eyes of the Service Consumer!

And the beauty of VALUE is that it is personal, subjective and subject to change any moment. But in essence it is a function of knowledge, skill and attitude of the service provider. So this presents ample opportunities for a service provider to enhance / elevate his / her own positioning in the eyes of the service consumer! What is critical to note is the fact that while it takes focused time and effort to create a perceived value in the eyes and mind of a service consumer, it is equally difficult to change a pre-existing perception. And hence, it is worthwhile to invest conscious time and effort to effectively manage these perceptions in the consumer marketplace.

3) The THREE possible ways to earn more revenues from services are
(i) Increase the number of hours
(ii) Increase the hourly rate
(iii) Increase (i) and (ii) above
The simple math for the Services revenue equation is below:
Services Revenue = (Number of Hours) X (Rate / Hour)

So if you want to increase the Services revenues you can generate – one option is to work more number of hours. Again, there is a limit to how much you can humanly stretch because there are only 24 hours in a day! And there is a limit to how many days of your life that you can actually stretch

And hence the next best option is to increase the Hourly Rate for your services. And the fact is that the rate is dependent on the perceived value of the serviced from the service consumer’s point of view.

So to really differentiate yourself in the long run in the services business, it is imperative that you invest in enhancing and elevating your own value as perceived by the service consumer. And this is really a function of two variables – The value you actually bring to the table and the perception in the eyes of the service consumer! Many of us spend a lot of time in creating and building our own value through self-study. Unfortunately, we don’t spend a proportionate amount of time and effort on self-promotion! That is the key to management of others perceptions of you..

In Conclusion:
The Service Business is really about SELLING TIME
And since everyone has time, everyone has the opportunity and potential to be a Service Provider!

Pause and Reflect –
What services are you providing today?
What services do you want to provide tomorrow?

The 7 Treasured Lessons from Corporate Innovation Experiences

I’ve been part of different corporate innovation initiatives from 2008 till date. And during this tenure, the most noteworthy change is that corporate innovation has transitioned from “Nice to Do” to “Good to Do” to “Must Do”…

Along this journey,
• I have had the opportunity to play a diverse set of roles and shouldered varied responsibilities – The key ones being a Business Owner to a Project Manager to a Business / Process Analyst to a Marketing / GTM (Go-To-Market) Specialist to Solution Specialist to Requirements Specification Owner
• I have interacted with a diverse set of individuals – internal and external to the organization {partners, analysts, customers (Diverse domains, Diverse positions in the organizational hierarchy [starting from the CEO to end-users] and from different parts of the globe}
• I have been involved in diverse kinds of innovation projects – from business to technology to process; each with a different team composition (2 to 20)

And the bottom line is this – Each of these initiatives achieved a different level of success.

“How do you define the success of a corporate innovation?”
The answer is simple and straight forward: The innovation initiative should generate the promised Return on Investment. If not, it is usually considered a failure in the business sense.

Going purely by this definition, I’d have to confess that some of the corporate innovation initiatives that I’ve been a part of were SUCCESSFUL and some were FAILURES…

Did we have cool ideas? Sure – We did!
Did we have a grand vision? Sure – We did!
Did we have a great team? Sure – We did!
Did we build what we set out to? Sure – We did!
Did we win business? Sure – We did!
Did we impact the organizations brand image in a positive way? Sure – We did!
Most importantly, Did we LEARN, GROW and EVOLVE? Sure – We did!

In this article, I will list the 7 TREASURED Lessons from the experiences in CORPORATE INNOVATIONS that I was a part of:
1) There are three distinct phases in the Innovation Life Cycle and each requires a different mind set
2) Your idea need not be unique; How you position your innovation makes all the difference
3) The Business Plan is just a baseline plan
4) When you start the GTM [Go-To-Market] activities can make all the difference
5) The first customer is the most crucial in your journey to success
6) Corporate Innovation should be a priority from the top
7) Internal communication and collaboration is critical to succeed

For full reading, refer to my artcile in the IIMB Alumni Magazine | Summer 2012 (pages 22 – 25)